Introduction and administration of the clinical skill test of the medical licensing examination, republic of Korea (2009).

The first trial of the clinical skill test as part of the Korean Medical Licensing Examination was done from September 23 to December 1, 2009, in the clinical skill test center located in the National Health Personnel Licensing Examination Board (NHPLEB) building, Seoul. Korea is the first country to introduce the clinical skill test as part of the medical licensing examination in Asia. It is a report on the introduction and administration of the test. The NHPLEB launched researches on the validity of introducing the clinical skill test and on the best implementation methods in 2000. Since 2006, lists of subjects of test items for the clinical skill test has been developed. The test consisted of two types of evaluation, i.e., a clinical performance examination (CPX) with a standardized patient (SP) and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). The proctor (medical faculty member) and SP rate the examinees' proficiency for the OSCE and CPX respectively. Out of 3,456 applicants, 3,289 examinees (95.2%) passed the test. Out of 167 examinees who failed the clinical skill test, 142 passed the written test. This means that the clinical skill test showed characteristics independent from the written test. This successful implementation of the clinical skill test is going to improve the medical graduates' performance of clinical skills.

A new ischemic model using a radiofrequency wire electrode in a rabbit hindlimb.

The purpose of this study was to establish an ischemic rabbit hindlimb model using a radiofrequency (RF) wire electrode. We inserted a polytetrafluoroethylene-coated wire with a 2-cm exposed tip into the left superficial femoral artery of seven New Zealand white rabbits and performed RF ablation (RFA) while pulling the wire back. We assessed the clinical findings, angiography, computed tomography perfusion, and permeability surface until 6 weeks after RFA. The angiography demonstrated complete obstruction from the proximal external iliac artery to the distal superficial femoral artery and showed a gradual increment in the angiogenic score, which represents the degree of angiogenesis (r = 0.86, p < 0.0001). The left-to-right ratios of the computed tomography perfusion and permeability surface were significantly reduced after 4 days (p < 0.05), and then they gradually increased with time. We conclude that endovascular RFA using an RF wire electrode is a reproducible and measurable way to create an ischemic rabbit hindlimb model.